LAM FACIAL PLASTICS

My daughter fell and had two stitches on her lip three days ago. It was a very traumatic experience for us at the hospital with alot of pain. I have included a photo of the lip 24 hours after the stitches.

I was told it will scar and she could have a revision after a year with a plastic surgeon. After searching online I found you. I wanted to ask and see if there is anything that can be done now to improve the healing. I'm not thrilled with the stitches, I'm not thrilled with the job that was done and worry about how it will look a few months and a few years down the road.

Thank you so much for taking the time out to read this and hopefully answer soon.

Melea and Makenna Keck

hi,
sorry to hear of your daughter's situation. as you know, this site is not intended to dispense medical advice. i cannot and should not do that. i can only speak of general scar principles. if a scar is starting to get very thick and red early on, i tend to laser it down and inject with 5-FU scar dissolver. now, on a 21-month old, i don't know how that would work. i tend to treat much older patients. in general, scar revision in very young individuals tends to lead only to more scarring since the younger you are the more you scar in general. in general, an 80 year old heals better than a 60 year old who heals better than a 20 year old who heals better than a 5 year old in general. the reason is that a very young person tends to want to build up scar, the skin is relatively inelastic and there are no skin flaws to hide the scar. fortunately, around the mouth, areas tend to heal the best compared with other parts of the face. beyond those principles, i really should not directly comment. you must ask your plastic surgeon his thoughts and follow up with him routinely based on his recommendations.
best,
sml

We live in a small town were there are not any plastic surgeons, only an ER doctor that did the stitches. We will be making an appointment with hopefully a plastic surgeon that can better deal with her age compared to the ER doctor that seemed to have no experience in a baby her age, soon.

I was a bit shocked to hear that the younger they are, the more they scar. I was told the opposite.

Thank you.

sorry to scare you. kids react a bit more than adults to trauma. hopefully, all will heal just fine. just make sure you follow up with a qualified plastic surgeon.
best,
sml